Lexicographic Permutations: Euler Problem 24

Euler Problem 24 asks to develop lexicographic permutations which are ordered arrangements of objects in lexicographic order. Tushar Roy of Coding Made Simple has shared a great introduction on how to generate lexicographic permutations.

Euler Problem 24 Definition

A permutation is an ordered arrangement of objects. For example, 3124 is one possible permutation of the digits 1, 2, 3 and 4. If all of the permutations are listed numerically or alphabetically, we call it lexicographic order. The lexicographic permutations of 0, 1 and 2 are:

Brute Force Solution

The digits 0 to 9 have permutations (including combinations that start with 0). Most of these permutations are, however, not in lexicographic order. A brute-force way to solve the problem is to determine the next lexicographic permutation of a number string and repeat this one million times.

Combinatorics

A more efficient solution is to use combinatorics, thanks to MathBlog. The last nine digits can be ordered in ways. So the first permutations start with a 0. By extending this thought, it follows that the millionth permutation must start with a 2.

From this rule, it follows that the 725761st permutation is 2013456789. We now need 274239 more lexicographic permutations:

We can repeat this logic to find the next digit. The last 8 digits can be ordered in 40320 ways. The second digit is the 6th digit in the remaining numbers, which is 7 (2013456789).